The Most Common Causes of Foot Pain

The Pennsylvania National Horse Show is celebrating its 70th year, making Harrisburg a prime destination for you or anyone you know who loves seeing graceful equines strut their stuff! That’s a lot of hooves to take care of, but we’ll leave that to the experts. Human feet are our specialty, especially when it comes to identifying and treating causes of foot pain.

If you want the number one culprit for pain in the feet, look no further than plantar fasciitis. This is the irritation and inflammation of a thick band of tissue running along the bottom of the foot. This type of pain tends to feel sharp and is most prominent in the morning.

If the pain is located more in the ball of the foot, you might have metatarsalgia. Named after the long metatarsal bones in this area, it can be caused by extra stress from running, jumping, and stooping activities. Pain in this region might also be attributable to Morton’s neuroma, a thickening of nerve tissue between the toes. This kind of pain often comes with odd numbness or tingling sensations.

Pain focused in a toe could be the result of arthritis. This includes gout, an especially painful condition in which crystals of uric acid build up around a joint—usually the big toe. A gout attack can often strike in the night and not disappear for a day or so.

These are just a few common causes of foot pain. Yet for being a very common condition, it’s sadly not one that some people seem willing to address. It starts to be considered a “normal part of life” to them, and that just isn’t true. Addressing the problem and starting treatment can often find relief, or at the very least help keep the problem from growing even worse over time.

If pain in your foot hasn’t gone away after a few days of patience and home treatment, don’t let it stand. Contact the doctors at Martin Foot and Ankle to get to the source of the problem and start doing something about it. Call us at (717) 757-3537 to schedule an appointment with us and find answers to questions you might have.